My First Family Finder DNA Match

While I did an autosomal dna test at 23andMe last year, I recently took advantage of a sale price to have my mother’s dna tested at Family Tree DNA, doing their autosomal test, known as Family Finder. I also upgraded my own results at FT DNA, in order to compare my results with hers.

My Family Finder results came in today, so, of course, I spent some time browsing through my 420 matches, looking at the surnames each person had uploaded.

I hit pay dirt almost immediately. I knew as soon as I saw the surnames Hemphill, MacIntyre, Mackie, Patton, and Pitcairn. This pedigree chart should show you why:

My 4th-great grandparents were Captain Thomas Hemphill and Mary Ann Mackie. Captain Thomas Hemphill’s mother was a Patton. Mary Ann Mackie’s mother was a McIntyre and her paternal grandmother was a Pitcairn.

I was 95% sure at this point and one more surname clinched the relationship. As I looked the complete list, I saw Whitesides. Captain Thomas Hemphill and Mary Ann Mackie had three daughters who married three Whitesides brothers. This match is clearly a descendant of one of those daughters.

I fired off an email explaining what I had found and got a very quick reply. The match is not a “genie,” but someone who had tested at another person’s request. This person sent me an outline of the match’s pedigree, which shows that he/she descends from Captain Thomas Hemphill and Mary Ann Mackie’s daughter – Elizabeth Anna Hemphill who married Moses Whitesides.

This image shows the area on chromosome 1 that the match and I share and which can be attributed to either Captain Thomas Hemphill or Mary Ann Mackie. I’ll need to match that segment to a descendant of one of their siblings to narrow it down further.

Hello, I belong to Family Tree DNA and my grandmother was a Patton. ( I have your name on the list) My information however is not clear, except on her death certificate it states her maiden name was Patton. She married a Williams, who was the father of my grandmother. She also married a Mannery and then a Patton. I know she was from Galway, Ireland but not much else to go on. You also have a Patton which is my understanding is a Scottish name. What is you take on your ancestors heritage as I do not see much info listed for your Patton either.

Hi Frances, I don’t have much information on my Patton ancestress at this point. You didn’t mention what part of the country your Pattons were from. Mine were from Burke/McDowell county, North Carolina. I’ve found a lot of Pattons in adjacent Buncombe County, but haven’t connected them to mine yet.

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About Tonia

Hi, I am Tonia Kendrick. Genealogy is my hobby, my passion (those who say obsession would not be accused of crazy-talk). While I had helped my mom with genealogy as a teenager, I first caught the bug myself when computers came into the picture.

Now we are well into the 21st-century and every day brings a new genealogy adventure, whether it is a new record group to explore online or a visit to a cemetery, courthouse, or other repository. It all comes together here. Read more about Tonia's Roots or contact Tonia. Read More…